Meet MSNBC host/professor Dr. Melissa Harris Perry and husband James Perry.
Melissa and James met back in April 2006 in New Orleans. The couple married on October 3, 2010 in a small ceremony in South Hampton, Bermuda surrounded by their closest friends and dearest family members.

The Perry’s reside in New Orleans with their 11-year-old daughter named Parker. Parker was born during Melissa’s first marriage to her ex-husband Dennis Lacewell, which ended in divorce in 2005.

Melissa Harris-Perry is an author, political scientist, television host and liberal political commentator with a focus on African-American politics.

Prior to that, she was an associate professor of politics and African-American studies at Princeton University from 2006 to 2010 and taught political science at the University of Chicago from 1999 to 2005.

Melissa was born in 1973, daughter of William M. Harris, Sr., the dean of Afro-American affairs at the University of Virginia and Diana Gray, a white community college professor and activist who worked for non-profits that assisted poor communities. Melissa has said of her heritage, “I’ve never thought of myself as biracial. I’m black.”

Melissa graduated with her bachelor’s in English at Wake Forest in 1994 and her PhD in political science at Duke in 1999. She also has an honorary doctorate from Meadville Lombard Theological School. She is a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

James Perry is a lawyer, civil rights advocate and activist. He is a graduate of the University of New Orleans and Loyola Law School. James enrolled in night classes at Loyola Law School until he earned his law degree in 2007.

Mr. Perry worked for the Preservation Resource Center (PRC), a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving the diverse neighborhoods in New Orleans. Mr. Perry then went on to become Director of the Gulf Coast Fair Housing Center and is now currently the Executive Director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center (GNOFHAC), a private, non-profit organization created to promote equal housing opportunity.

Back in 2010, James Perry ran for mayor of New Orleans and a state House seat, but unfortunately did not win.